Health Canada is preparing to launch a wave of inspections of businesses selling vaping products. They will analyze products to determine their contents and nicotine levels.

Though the health ministry will not confirm the information, the Presse Canadienne has learned that 22 inspectors will be assigned to the operation.

In an email to the Presse Canadienne, Health Canada did confirm that “between now and the end of 2019, inspectors will be visiting 3,000 retailers of vaping products (specialized stores and convenience stores) in order to check conformity” with the Tobacco and Vaping Act and the Canadian Consumer Product Safety Act.

The ministry added that its inspectors will examine “all products on sale in the establishment” and that “the non-respect of one or several articles of the law could have serious consequences, such as the seizure of products or financial sanctions.”

Vaping liquids — also known as e-liquids — contain glycerol or propylene glycol that are used to dilute nicotine, as well as diacetyl, which is used to produce flavour. While the products do present toxicity risks, they are believed to be less serious than those of tobacco. There is little research into the long-term effects of vaping.

Mathieu Valke, a toxicologist with the Institut national de santé publique du Québec, notes that there is another risk that should be considered when the products are being consumed: “The problem is that there isn’t too much regulation over the content of these liquids, so we don’t really know what’s in them.”

Health Canada says the Tobacco Products Labelling Regulations, which extend to vaping products, requires that “labels on all vaping products must include a list of ingredients. Furthermore, vaping products that contain nicotine must have a standard label displaying the concentration of nicotine and a warning concerning the risk of addiction associated with nicotine.”

“Vaping is a bit of an act of faith,” said Dr. Mathieu Morissette, a researcher at the Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec, which is affiliated with Laval University. “We can procure e-liquids from someplace dodgy or order them online without really knowing what’s in them. Not everyone has a biochemistry lab at home to analyze the contents.”

Morissette notes that product labels can be deceiving. He cites studies where e-cigarettes were purchased at random in various convenience stores and while all of them were labelled as nicotine-free, half of them were found to contain nicotine.

All of which explains why Health Canada wants to take a closer look on a very large scale, targeting 1,000 specialized stores and 2,000 dépanneurs. Even though that’s a small fraction of the total number of vaping outlets, the task will be daunting with only 22 inspectors.

“With the quantity of liquids, of vape shops that exist, the liquids we can buy online, it’s almost impossible to control,” Morissette said.

Health authorities are concerned about the growing popularity of vaping — particularly among young people who are otherwise non-smokers — because of the nicotine addiction it can create.

However, a ban seems unlikely because a crushing majority of users — 85 per cent, according to the most recent survey by the Institut national de santé publique du Québec — are e-smoking to stop using tobacco.

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